Vanguard International ROLL CALL:

  • Chairman: Danny Hearn
  • Vice-Chairman: Kristofer "Chance" Schanz
  • Grimm
  • Phil Smith
  • Priest
  • Tayden
  • Tobias "T.C." Christopher
  • Drake Marshall/Drax
  • Kristogar Velo
  • Michael Ringo/Vengeance
  • Brianna "Banshee" Fionghuala (Finula)
  • Nadia (alias Sonja Ljvazet)

***

"Danny! Chance! I need to speak with you now," the urgent voice of Dr. Henry Quantos sounded from the intercom.

Daniel Hearn pressed the return button and spoke back: "Uh, Doc, we're kind of in a meeting right now. Can it wait?"

"No!" came Quantos' voice in an uncharacteristic shout. A moment later, he said in a much calmer, "I'm... I'm sorry, but this is really most urgent."

Danny looked at Chance, who shrugged. He spoke into the intercom, "OK, Doc, we'll meet you at the lab. We'll give you five minutes, but no more."

"That's all I need."

Chance turned to the others, who were settling themselves into the meeting room. "Sorry, people -- we'll be back very soon." He and Danny went to the elevator. The cat began to trail them. "No! Get away, you damned spy! Tobias!--put your cat out of the way! Until we can get that fucking spy equipment out of him, we'll have to keep him somewhere where he can't do any more damage."

"ImsorryDannyIlltakeLilJotoalockedroom"

***

The laboratory of Dr. Quantos was a large enough area of the Complex for several sub-sections to exist within it: A medical laboratory with state-of-the-art instruments enhanced with Mandelovian technology; a physics laboratory; an encyclopaedic database of information; and two walled-off testing rooms protected from radiation and/or biological contamination for miscellaneous experimentation. There was also a small area where Chance kept a chemical laboratory of his own which he used in his spare time.

"You've got us here, Doc," said Danny, an impatient edge in his voice. "Now what do you want?"

"As you know, I've been assisting Grissom with his security upgrades, and as such I happened to be checking on each room, one-by-one, when I chanced upon the room where you and your team were meeting..."

"Doc!" Chance said, feigning shock.

"Now, now, I wasn't intending to eavesdrop!" Quantos said, protesting by waving his hands and shaking his head. "But I had to check that the video feed wasn't displaying any tell-tale anomalies. Well, anyway, I hadn't been listening in to your private meeting, and I was about to move on to the next room, when I heard the voice of General D'Goon. You know I worked in Mandelovia since 1985 for Malvan-X Inc under Miss Victoria Xiang."

Danny winced at the name.

"Well, I had several dealings with General D'Goon back then, from when he was a mere Major in charge of immigration. I don't know how much you know about Mandelovia in your own time, Danny, but that small European nation has been the most secretive and xenophobic one known to the history of mankind. Before the 1970s outsiders weren't allowed in at all unless they became naturalized citizens. Mandelovia has been VERY selective of its immigrants, and they are always chosen carefully from among the most brilliant people across the globe, though until recent years they focused solely on European countries. All naturalized Mandelovian citizens are sworn to secrecy, an oath which cannot be broken, about its secrets. And those who are elite enough to join the secret society known as the League of Science are exposed to even deeper secrets which require them to undergo a procedure in which they would immediately die if they revealed even one of them. Our own Miss X is a member of that League, which is why she's never revealed much about her time in Mandelovia. Most of it is classified even now, despite the regime change.

"Anwyay, when I went there to work in the 1980s it was no longer required of me to become a citizen, but nevertheless I was subjected to a procedure which would wipe my mind of all Mandelovian secrets if I should ever leave the country. Nevertheless, Miss Xiang's oath of secrecy didn't stop her from allowing most of the 'classified memories' which were subdued in my mind when I left Mandelovia to return once more over the last few months, and she's been helping me with that since then."

"Get to the point, Doc," Danny said. "We don't have the time for this!"

"OK, OK," Dr. Quantos said. "All of this is to explain a bit of background. Suffice it to say that I had my own dealings with Major Colton D'Goon before he rose through the ranks to General, and had my own often-unpleasant dealings with him throughout my 16-year-long stay there. I know what that man is capable of. Anyway, on the morning when the team went on its last mission, I received a package from Mandelovia which, I have reason to believe, is from my daughter."

"Your daughter?!!" Chance exclaimed.

"I haven't spoken of her before, I know. She's about your age, Kristofer. But I know it was from her despite the lack of any concrete proof. A group of files of top-secret Mandelovian research was accompanied by nothing more than a short, handwritten note in my daughter's handwriting. Since I haven't spoken to Helen in years, guys, I know something was wrong. She was desperate enough to send the research she was working on in Mandelovia to me just in case something happened to her."

"What the hell was she doing in Mandelovia?" Danny asked.

"I really don't know, Dan. She had never been to Mandelovia more than once since I moved there. Her mother and I divorced shortly before I took the job with Miss Xiang, and she's always resented me. But she's a brilliant engineer with experience in a number of projects over the globe. If General D'Goon had something that was interesting enough to her, she'd have few qualms about working for him."

"He's a goddamn dictator!"

"I know, Dan, I know. But Helen McKenzie -- she took her mother's name after she died -- has always maintained that the pursuit of knowledge cannot be restricted by human morality."

"Sheesh. Tell that to the millions who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki," Chance said. "Or the countless Jews who died under experimentation by Nazi doctors in World War II."

"I maintain that Helen has her own morality, but D'Goon had offered to her a field of research that no other person on the planet could have possibly offered."

"And what is that, then?"

Dr. Quantos held up a group of file folders in his hand, and made a point of looking at Danny. "Time travel!"

"Time tr--"

"Yes! Time travel!" Quantos went on, an excitement growing in his voice. "I've been going over this research for the past few days and had been meaning to talk with you about it. I believe that, given time, I could perfect a method of time travel to send you back home at will, Danny, should you choose to do so. And that method could be slightly modified to send you back to your alternate timeline, Kristofer!"

"This is all... very interesting, almost too much so," said Chance, "but Doc, we're on the clock, here. What's your point?!"

"Well, I overheard what the General said about Li'l Jo, Kristofer," Quantos finally said in a tremulous voice tinged with anger. "That damned cat has been running all over this lab with my dog for the past few days! Although my daughter took every precaution to get her research out of the country without D'Goon's knowledge, because of my own security failings here, I may have put her life in danger!!!"

"Oh God..." Chance breathed.

"D'Goon must already know that Helen has betrayed him! You've got to save her! And if you're going to Mandelovia, then I'm coming with you!"

"No, Doc," Chance said. "No way."

"Then do your damned best to rescue her from the clutches of that right-wing fascist madman, or I'll do it myself."

There was a tense silence in the room for the next few moments. Finally, Danny broke the tension and said, "We have to get back to discuss the details of our mission with the team."

As the two young men turned to leave, Chance said to Dr. Quantos, "I'll do everything I can, Doc. You have my word on that."

Dr. Henry Quantos was close to tears. "Thank you."

Chance smiled, and he and Danny left, just as the middle-aged man broke down in tears, looking older than ever.